Jody Dankberg Email & Phone Number

Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Greater Chicago Area

• Manage procurement of licenses, including preliminary research, contract negotiations andexecution, as well as day to day communication and approvals• Liaison between cross-functional internal product development teams from various disciplines including programming, industrial design, engineering, graphics, purchasing and external licensingpartners• Oversee and implement multi-tier global marketing strategy for product pricing, promotion,placement and pricing for different markets including commercial coin op, pinball collectors and the casual recreation room buyer• Launched and maintain cross-platform social media program focused on driving brand engagement, pinball awareness and uniting the pinball community• Established and implemented corporate identity, style guides and brand personas for delivering consistent messaging across all platforms and consumer touchpoint• Supervise and execute all aspects of trade show, convention and event promotion and logistics, from budgeting and staffing to travel and accommodations to booth conceptualization andexecution.• Develop annual marketing budgets, managing multiple subcontractors for management of socialmedia, graphic design, product development, video production, public relations, website development and maintenance, promotional materials and trade shows.

Greater Chicago Area

As Director of Marketing and Artist Relations for US Music Corp, a $65 million company, I was responsible for driving sales revenue and all aspects of marketing for five distinct lifestyle brands, eachwith extremely different demographics.• Repositioned brands and increased consumer awareness of US Music Corp as a leader in the music industry• Generated campaigns for each of the brands including print, online, viral and in-store.• Managed and coordinated all public relations activities, including product reviews and placement,press releases and special feature articles in such publications as Guitar World, Premier Guitar and Acoustic Guitar Magazine• Assisted in new product conceptualization and development to achieve the most successful product launch in the history of Washburn, the award-winning HM Series of electric guitars• Restructured the entire artist roster for all US Music Corp brands to increase visibility of the brands in front of the guitar playing community.• Managed an artist roster of over 500 guitar players worldwide, including Metallica, Kiss, KillSwitch Engage and Fall Out Boy. Artist management included providing backline, artist sales, developing and implementing an artist trade-in program, signature artist product development andproviding technical support.

Phoenix, Arizona Area

Co-founded and launched an amplifier company from the ground up, leading to 5x growth in revenueafter the first year in market through a focused, proactive product distribution plan targeted for entree into all major markets.• Pioneered musical instrument marketing by targeting a more qualified sub-set of consumers with anaffinity towards the great young guitar players of the current generation in a cradle-to-the-grave approach• Supervised Product Conceptualization and Development to adhere to core business values and company mission statement